No, there just need to be better laws - or at least, more fit to the "crime" response.
In fact, if he was indeed "5 mph above the speed limit" he shouldn't even have been fined in the first place.
Police can and should use discretion (and they often/mostly do, this was just a shitty move in a shitty district).
Not to mention that, even given the fine was ok, there should have been an online/bank transfer way to pay...
If so, why would him having a debt to the state matter? Clearly him mailing the cash or not wouldn't change his risk profile for driving.
The anti-social thing here is to leverage what is ostensibly a safety concern into a tool of compliance.
As I alluded to, a gradual system of consequences building to suspension, or some other method of easing into or helping avoid the penalty state, would be more fair, especially for light offenses like the OP’s.
That does not change that we expect people not to drive on public roads when they’re barred from using them.
Suspended license driving is anti-social. Any law with a firm cutoff or deadline, and no gradual increase of penalty, sucks for those who barely miss complying with it. There needs to be some kind of consequence, though.